At the age of 40, Ken Duke doesn’t get to do many things for the first time anymore. But this is his maiden voyage as a Masters contestant, and the Hope, Arkansas native is already enjoying himself.

“I had never been here before until just a couple of weeks ago, when I came to town to play a couple of practice rounds,” says Duke, who finished 22nd of the PGA Tour’s official money list last season and played in the Tour Championship. “And I liked it right away. It is a beautiful golf course, plush and the greens are putting perfectly. Then, there is all that history, which you can feel just walking around.”

Duke completed nine holes this morning, in clear but blustery conditions with fellow Cleveland Golf endorser Steve Flesch. “We played the front, and I did not have too much trouble with the wind, because I am a low ball hitter,” he said. “Tomorrow, I’ll play the back.”

Which will be yet one more first for a fortysomething pro who is having a lot of them this week.